Monday, November 21, 2016

The Blind Leading The Blind

Hey there, crime kids. Happy Monday. It's time once again to take a trip to the dark side, where your most violent fantasies become sins of the flesh, right here, where the hardboiled action is non-stop, at the coolest crime joint in cyberspace ... at That Killing Feeling.

In Chapter 8 of THE HEISTERS, we flash back again to Kelsey and her gang planning the robbery of the box office at a charity rock concert ...

KELSEY
It might work.
But I need to know more about the setup.
The layout. How many guards --

RONAN
Yeah, yeah -- I’m gettin’ to that.

He pulls out a piece of graph paper.
Unfolds it. Lays it down on the table.
Kelsey comes over. Looks.

RONAN
(points)
Okay. There’s three box offices, on the east,
west and north side of the stadium.
Every hour the money gets picked up
from each one and gets brought over
to the south side where the
finance office is on the second floor --

KELSEY
Who delivers it?

RONAN
Pair of armed guards.
They take it down a corridor under the stands.
Be easy to hit, but they only carry a
couple of grand each trip.
(off Kelsey’s nod)
In the finance office, the cash is counted
and put into money boxes that go to the bank.
They’ll be finished before the concert is over
because they don’t want the armored car
to get stuck in the traffic jam
that’ll happen when everyone leaves.

KELSEY
When does it come?

RONAN
When they call for it.
And it doesn’t stay long.
Just long enough to pick up
the dough and split.
It’s flanked by two local cop cars
in front and back all the way the bank.

KELSEY
What’s the setup in the finance office?
How many guards?

RONAN
Four armed guards and six employees.
You go in through a locked door.
Knock first, and then they
check you out through a peephole.

KELSEY
And it’s gonna be mostly small bills, right?

CHICK
(nods)
We figure two big duffle bags oughta handle it.

Kelsey nods. Thinking.

KELSEY
Tell me again about the gate.

RONAN
There’s three of them. They’re old, with
ornamental spikes that go up almost to the top,
but there’s still room for someone to climb over it.
They go over, and then unlock it and let us in.

KELSEY
What if somebody sees us?

RONAN
Already thought of that. The east gate is where
the photographers take pictures of the losers
who wait in line all night, and the west gate
is on the main drag -- but the north gate is
across the street from the park,
which will be empty when we go in.

CHICK
He’s got it covered --

KELSEY
Okay. Then what?

RONAN
We go through three locks, and then
we’re in the finance office.

KELSEY
Is there anything going on there tonight?

RONAN
On a weeknight? Nah --

KELSEY
Then let’s do a dry run.

LUDO
Tonight? Right now?

CHICK
You got something better to do?

KELSEY
We need to make impressions of the locks.
And I want to get the feel of the place.
Sniff it out.